NEW YORK — Alexander Zverev’s rocky road to start the U.S. Open turned into smooth sailing to the semifinals.
The No. 1 seed in the men’s singles tournament beat Botic van de Zandschulp in straight sets Wednesday night, 6-2, 7-5, 6-1, putting the 29-year-old German into the final four of every Grand Slam tournament this season.
The French Open champion and Wimbledon runner-up will play Friday against Karen Khachanov, an unseeded 30-year-old from Russia, while American players Ben Shelton, who’s the No. 8 seed, and Frances Tiafoe, who’s No. 11, will meet in the other men’s singles semifinal that day.
Zverev became the first men’s No. 1 seed to play five-set matches in each of the first two rounds of a major in the Open Era, which began in 1968, but he won his past three matches in straight sets and is the only man to reach all four major semis this year.
After playing more than 4 1/2 hours in each of the first two rounds, Zverev hasn’t been on the court more than 2 1/2 in his last three matches.
“In other tournaments, I would have been out in the first round, but here I can fight back and play best-of-five, play 4 1/2 hours and somehow win the match and somehow get (deep) into the tournament,” Zverev said. “And then I start playing better throughout the tournament, and definitely happy to be in the semifinals here, but of course I want to go further.”
He went to the final in New York in 2020 but blew a two-set lead against Dominic Thiem. That was the closest Zverev would come to a major title until his victory this year on the red clay of Roland Garros, and the German now is 23-2 in Grand Slam matches this season.
“He’s been in (the ATP Tour singles rankings’) top five for so many years,” Khachanov said. “This year he did also step forward. He won his first Grand Slam, played the final in Wimbledon as well. I mean, he’s coming up really in hot form, let’s say.”
Van de Zandschulp, a 30-year-old Dutch player, matched his deepest run at a major, having also reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals in 2021.
Khachanov got at least to the third round of every major this year and this time has gone three rounds further. He was prepared to go through a tough test Wednesday, but Alexander Blockx’s body wasn’t up for one.
The 21-year-old Belgian stopped playing in the third set because of injuries to his leg, ribs and back, sending Khachanov to the third Grand Slam singles semifinal of his career.
“I think my body just gave up,” said Blockx, the No. 28 seed.
Khachanov won the first two sets, 6-2 and 7-5, and Blockx decided it was time to stop after Khachanov broke his serve to take a 3-2 lead in the third.
“I was preparing really, really well for that matchup,” Khachanov said. “It’s not easy really to play, because from one side I was feeling I was dominating from the beginning, then I started to feel like he was struggling more and more … suffering all over his body.”
Khachanov is seeking his first major final. He got to the semifinals of the 2022 U.S. Open and the 2023 Australian Open.
He is unseeded in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 2018 after a strange season. He reached at least the third round of all four majors for the first time but is just 10-15 in other events, with losses in the opening rounds of all three hard-court events immediately before coming to New York.
Blockx said he nearly stopped in his last match because of his injuries. As he got treatment for multiple body parts Wednesday, he said he was neither upset nor angry.
“To be honest, during the match, it was quite funny to me. I just had to laugh it off, because it was just something new the whole time,” he said. “I think it was just my body that started compensating as well. I was starting to do different motions than I usually do just to avoid the pain.”